"So...you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope," said Ron.
"Well you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," said Fred.
"Who're you going with, then?" Said Ron.
"Hermione," said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment.
"What?" Said Ron, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"
"Good point, said Fred. He turned his head and grinned lopsidedly across the table. "Want to come to the ball with me?"
Hermione gave Fred an appraising sort of look.
"All right then."
Ron let out a sputter of indignation.
Hermione sat in the common room with her Ancient Runes text and notes spread out in front of her, the fire long ago burned low and the other students having trickled off to bed. Chewing the tip of her quill, she contemplated the translation in front of her, triple-checking for any errors. The sound of the Fat Lady's portrait opening broke her concentration, followed by the unmistakable sounds of Fred, George, and Lee returning from unknown late night mischief. Weighing her options, Hermione screwed her courage to the sticking place and elected to take advantage of this opportunity.
Lifting her chin, Hermione made eye contact with Fred, and crooked her finger in the "come here" signal. All three boys reluctantly moved in her direction, relief crossing George and Lee's expressions when she shook her head at the two of them and jerked it towards the staircase, indicating they could take their leave. The other two made their escape to the staircase leading to their dorm leaving Fred lingering apprehensively. Hermione gestured for Fred to sit, and took a deep breath, nerves jangling strangely.
"You only asked me to the ball to wind Ron up, correct?"
A dull flush colored Fred's neck.
"It's perfectly alright," Hermione laughed hollowly, "I wasn't planning to hold you to it." Mission accomplished, Hermione picked her quill back up, preparing to dive back into the runes, ignoring the disappointed feeling she didn't quite understand.
"Er," Fred said eloquently, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, "I. You see." Hermione returned her attention to him, and watched him stammer under her gaze.
"No," he confessed, "You see. I mean, I thought. Well." Hermione felt a strange surge of hopefulness rise in her as Fred's flush rose higher. Fred sighed and determinedly fixed his gaze on a spot just over her left shoulder. "See, George always fancied the giggly sort. Sweet little things, usually dim, yeah?" Hermione wondered at the change of topic but made no move to interrupt, merely raising her eyebrows encouragingly. Fred began to speak faster, as if he felt that if he didn't say it all in one breath, he'd never say it at all. Hermione puzzled momentarily over what could cause the normally confident Fred to seem so nervous.
"Me though, I always fancied the kind of girl who wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with a bloke. Feisty. Opinionated. Bossy, whatever word you want to use. And when it happened that my baby brother befriended a bird who was not only that but brilliant, kind and beautiful to boot? Well…" Fred trailed off nervously. Hermione opened her mouth to respond, although what that response might be escaped her. Her instincts screamed that this was the set up to some prank, but looking at his face, seeing the uncertainty there, she wondered if maybe there was truth behind his words. Before she could speak, Fred cut her off.
"Look, I know everyone says you're just waiting for Ronnie to pull his thumb out of his arse…"
"Fred!" Hermione chastised weakly, her heart not truly behind it.
"But, I dunno," he continued without pause, "Maybe you're sick of waiting for him to notice what other blokes saw already. Maybe you'd be willing to give someone else a chance?" He finally met her eyes hesitantly. She studied him briefly and made up her mind.
"All right then." She replied, packing up her schoolwork. Fred's jaw dropped, he gazed at her, stunned, the whole while as she organized her notes, slipped them into the text, and stood, work in hand.
"...What?"
"I said, all right then." She leaned forward, ghosted a feather light kiss on his jaw, and walked up the stairs to her dorm; leaving Fred gawping behind.
A/N: Italics are from GOF. But you're not new, you knew that.
